Thursday Afternoon Quarterback

Ravens are 3-0. The last (only) time they started 3-0, they went 13-3, and I think this team is better than that one.

There’s not much to talk about after the Browns game. The Browns are just a bad team, and they can’t really be used to evaluate the performance of the team beating them.

The Ravens scored at will, held them to less than 200 total yards of offense, and ended up putting in backups in the 4th quarter. 4 interceptions sure makes the secondary look better, but it was the Browns.

Now it’s on to the Patriots. This is going to be a tough game against a good team, although I’m not sure the Patriots are better than the Ravens are this year; at least not yet. Brady still looks tentative, and their defense lost a lot of experience and talent in the offseason. They are 2-1 instead of 1-2 because the Bills beat themselves (I think the Bills are actually a better team this year than the Patriots). But they will be prepared on Sunday, they know this is a huge game.

Likewise, the Ravens will be fired up. I’m still waiting for the letdown game they always seem to have. Honestly, going into the bye week 5-1 or 4-2 would be just fine with me.

Given the way the two teams have been playing, I’ll stick with my preseason prediction and call it a win for the Ravens, but a close game with a lower score, maybe 21-17 or 24-20. The Patriots are a 1 point favorite, and the over/under is 44 or 45 or so, I think this is a tough game to predict, and I sure wouldn’t be putting much money on it if I were a gambling fellow.